Hornsey Town Hall to Go as Flats or Hotel?

After Mountiew Theatre pulled out of the Hornsey Town Hall project, the listed building's future has been very uncertain. Tomorrow a cabinet meeting at Haringey Council will begin the process that will seal its' fate. 

A skim through the papers prepared for the meeting suggests that a direction of travel favouring conversion to a hotel or flats with some portion retained for community use may be the most likley outcome.

Below are what for me are key elements of the papers (also attatched in full). The use of italics indicates a direct quote.

The objectives given for the future of the town hall include the following:

• Remove the Council’s ongoing liability for the building.
• Facilitate cultural, community and other activities in the Town Hall, providepublic access to the building and make a positive contribution to the local
• economy

"Parameters for delivery" include:

• LBH would prefer not to have any future stake holding in, nor carry any liability for the town hall.
• LBH does not desire an on-going role in the development process oroperation of the site (beyond its statutory role) after selection of the preferred developer.
• The Town Hall square will be included in the development, given appropriate provision for public use and access.
• The Council must achieve best consideration for its asset and is happy to consider both revenue and capital payment structures in order to facilitate a suitable solution in light of its broader objectives.

(Incidentally, not only the town hall square is included in the plot, but the small square next to the library is also part of the package).

And finally, in full, the section on market testing:

Soft Market Testing

5.10 There have been two soft market testing exercises carried out to identify what the market interest is for the site and to explore alternative options. The key findings from this process are:

• Hotel operator/developers have expressed a keen interest in the building,wider site and general location
• Ancillary requirements of a hotel could play a major role in meeting community requirements
• PRS (private rented sector) specialists thought this was an attractive location
• Ancillary requirements of PRS could play a major role in meeting community requirements
• HTH (Hornsey Town Hall) would be unlikely to be suitable for mainstream office space
• The town hall building is very big and therefore has a lot of space to maintain and find uses that can support on-going maintenance costs.

It doesn't appear to take much reading between the lines to see which way, in these cash strapped times, things are going. 

Should you wish to attend the cabinet meeting, it is open to the public and details can be found here.